Dilution of Rule of Law

Article Summary:"When people lose faith in rule of law they evolve their own method to sustain and grow. If the govt. itself fails to deliver what it has promised in its own passed legislation, least can be expected from other section of the society. Not getting legitimate response from the authority People then learn to manipulate and twist to .."

When inquired through RTI about Robert Vadra's land deal, outraged PMO retorted: "confidential'. The one word crispy response was an answer to all those who mistook their constitutional right as their actual right. The snub by our guardian of law suggests that just because there is law for almost everything does not mean that you should use them carte blanche and expect that your constitutional right should be honored without fail. 'Your right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously' is the message government sends across whenever People dare to treat it as their service provider.

Such indifferent attitude of government and its various functionaries shake the People's faith on law of land. Since there is no effort from government to rehabilitate the waning faith, the nonchalant People have started looking for alternative way to survive and thrive. There are number of situations-some of them are as under- in our day to day life where the appropriate law is in place but in most of the cases we prefer other options because they are ready to use and more promising to yield the predictable result.

• In case of eve teasing or other street altercation which when escalates almost to the physical assault, we either choose to ignore or negotiate our safety, instead of calling police helpline.

• In case of conflict with our landlord regarding exorbitant rent hike or other issue, we either compromise with him or look for other accommodation, but very rarely seek justice in court.

• When auto driver refuses going by meter, we bargain the fare but never insist to go by the rule.

• When we demand actual bill on purchase, and shopkeeper then asks for extra % on purchase price to meet the sales tax, we give up and make purchase without bill, buying his verbal assurance only.

• When the retailer demands extra % if we choose to purchase through credit or debit card, we either decide to pay that extra unrecorded % or pay the full amount in cash, but never insist him to abide the RBI directive.

• When School hikes the fees, we fall in line.

• When our company fires, we look for other job, never seek the reason.

• When our loved one is hospitalized, we are obliged to act and believe whatever doctors or staffs of the hospital suggest or dictate.

• We very rarely ask examiner to show the evaluated answer sheet even if we seriously doubt the fairness of evaluations.

Most of us accept the thing as it is; very rarely we resist. We forgo and move on. If the road ahead is blocked, we change our route or lower our head, shrink our soul, bend or cut our self in size and cross the barrier. Instead of changing the system, we change ourselves. We learn to flow with stream. We submit; we surrender. Raising voice is aberration, falling in line is our virtue. Is this not what we have been taught for centuries -once by foreign rulers and now by our own elected governments? The attitude of submission is entrenched since time immemorial- owing to the continuous foreign invasion which laid Master and Slave kind of architecture on our society and upon which our social behavior executes.

The behavior of society cannot change radically unless the architecture is changed. And the change can be enforced only from the top to cause the ripple effect toward bottom. This needs the sincere effort from the government, the ultimate authority of change. If govt. does not feel accountable to its people, and fails to enforce the law of land in every nook and cranny of the society, nothing will change, no matter how many legislators we pass to add and modify pages of our divine constitution. Even the judiciary can do nothing.

Govt. is custodian of rule of law. If the govt. response is: 'confidential', people lose the confidence on rule of law and gradually they replace it with implementable and cheaper rule of game.

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